In Conversation

The Walking Dead’sSteven Yeun Thinks You’re Watching the Show All Wrong

Last night AMC’s The Walking Dead lurched back to life with an action-packed Season 5 premiere. The show, which has garnered a huge fan base and already inspired a spinoff, is as sharp as ever. Ahead of the premiere we spoke to one of the show’s stars, Steven Yeun, who plays fan favorite Glenn Rhee. In the span of five seasons, Yeun’s character has gone from comic relief, to highly skilled fighter, and one half of the show’s most appealing romantic couples. But whether he’s delivering pizzas, quips, or death blows, Glenn has always been and remains the beating heart of The Walking Dead. Yeun talks about Glenn’s transformation, the increasing presence of Asian Americans on television, and reveals the secrets behind all that post-apocalyptic grime.

VF Hollywood: You had maybe the most important line of the night in the premiere episode. What does that moment, that particular line of dialogue tell us about Glenn?

Steven Yeun:
Are you talking about that moment where he says, “This is still who we are”?

Yes, exactly.
You just see that this is who Glenn is. That this world, no matter how badly it’s burned him, he still needs to have that light shine through. I think that’s what that moment is. No matter how dire the circumstances, especially that trough where he could have died, he has hope that things will work themselves out. So I think for him it’s a no-brainer, that’s who he’s got to be. The first moment you met Glenn, he saved Rick from the tank. And so it’s hard to think of Glenn changing so much, hardening so much, that he wouldn’t do that for someone else.

Do you ever miss Season 1 Glenn? Do you miss being the comic relief? It’s harder to get jokes in now that everything is so awful all the time.

Honestly, yes I do. There are a lot of moments that we wrote in for Glenn so he could still maintain his humor. But after we film it we realize the tone, when juxtaposed to how intense the moment is, that it’s jarring. I think the show has a forever war with that. The circumstances are always dire because the world continues to decay. I think what you see in the last few seasons is Glenn growing up. And when you’re growing up I think sometimes you overstep your boundaries and then recalibrate to find out who you should be. And I think we’re finding Glenn in that place.

The Walking Dead author Robert Kirkman joked that the cast all got super-buff after Season 1 when you weren’t supposed to. You’re supposed to be the nerdy kid. Do you think the writers incorporated that physical transformation into Glenn’s character?

It’s funny because I actually lost weight over time but maybe they dressed me in tighter clothing as I got older? But it’s been fun to play with the idea that Glenn is growing up. But it’s an interesting question about television in general. You get to live with the character for so long and then the writers like to write to how they see you and the character evolve together. I don’t know. I put the comic book down maybe like 50 issues in. And I knew a lot but then I just put it in the back of my mind. I just felt like there was much more to tell with Glenn than, “Hey, let me show up and do something wacky.” You look at Glenn and there’s a heart in there, a really strong heart.

Can you take us through the daily griming process? How do you guys go from clean, attractive actors to the dirty sweaty messes we see on the show?

Oh it’s so easy nowadays. We don’t shower, walk into the trailer, looking like pure shit, and they just add dirt. They just spray us with brown liquid and we run it all over our hands and body.

So that sweat? That’s all you?

Yeah, yeah we haven’t had a day so far this season that wasn’t extremely, extremely hot. Atlanta does it for all of us. Atlanta is really our friend.

There’s been a slow but steady uptick in the amount of Asian American actors we see on TV and the change isn’t just about numbers, it’s about the types of roles those actors get to play. I’m thinking specifically of people like Ming-Na Wen on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and John Cho on Selfie. Do you take any pride in the role you, Glenn, and The Walking Dead have played in changing the way Asian characters are seen on television?

I think I stand on the shoulders of a lot of people before me. There are people that I look back at, and I wonder why they didn’t have a better career. It’s because they happened to come up in an era where they were not afforded the opportunities, but they had all the talent and all the charisma in the world. I mean, John and Ming-Na, those two are veteran, veteran actors. I don’t take any pride or think I’ve paved the way, more so that the times are changing.

And I’m glad they’re changing and I’m glad I get to play the character I get to play and not some caricature of whatever stereotype might be out there. It’s a fun time right now. There’s a lot of growth still happening and I think, I hope, that Asian Americans continue to get more shots. But I’m also excited for this next generation of Asian American kids who will hopefully grow up without that second-generation angst of having to do medicine, law, or business. So you hope that this next round of kids will have a shot from an earlier age.

You know, I do want to clarify that particular article. It is reactionary in that, yes, I do want more roles for Asian Americans. But I think I was more speaking from an individual standpoint, and that applies to anybody regardless of race or anything. This industry is tough and it’s not going to hand you things, so you need to make things. I just happen to look the way I look so I have to make things that pertain to the way I look. For me the message was mostly that. If you’re going to be in this industry, be very prepared to build your own material.

I don’t particularly want to subscribe to the idea that this show can kill off anybody it wants. Yes, it can. Yes, that’s a thing. That’s definitely a thing. But I think that’s not the point of the show. Game of Thrones kills people left and right and yet that’s not the point of the show. Sometimes you look at the viewers and you feel kind of bad because they’re watching the show like an episode of Survivor. They’ve picked two people or one person and if that person continues to live, they’re happy. If that person wasn’t in an episode, they’re unhappy. But when you watch the show like that you’re missing out on such beautiful storytelling.

We talk in terms of “are you afraid to get killed off?” And for me, if it serves the story, I’m game for anything. I hope people can watch the show in that same regard. Stop watching it to see if your favorite character is still alive. That’s kind of been on my mind lately because you notice a lot of fans saying “we want you to live, or we want this person to die” and it’s like, that’s not what the show’s about.

How do you deal with that when you encounter it from a fan in real life?

I haven’t had a long conversation with a fan about that, but I’d be willing to. Maybe I should make a YouTube video about it.